


i know this whole damn city thinks it needs you, but not as much as i do

by starklyman



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Doctor Whump, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-13 01:44:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19241305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starklyman/pseuds/starklyman
Summary: 5 times Clara was the protective one





	i know this whole damn city thinks it needs you, but not as much as i do

**Author's Note:**

> This wasn’t originally gonna be multi chapter but I think it’ll be too long to not be so here we are. Just as a warning, I am notorious for not finishing multi chapter fics so let’s hope that changes here. Also I’m a slut for hurt Doctor and protective Clara so you get this. Enjoy!

It was supposed to be a quick stop. A quick jaunt to Tetritis 5 to pick up some parts for the TARDIS and then they would be on their way. However, like most things in their lives, it didn’t go quite as planned.

 

“Dozens of times, Clara, honestly. The merchants love me here.”

 

“Funny ‘cause you say that about most places we visit and most places we visit we end up having to run for our lives.”

 

“How sad your life must be, living as the eternal pessimist and all.”

 

“Not pessimistic, just realistic.” This earned her a pout and in turn she ruffled his hair affectionately. “Well, come on you big lump let’s go get your stuff.”

 

His pouting didn’t last long as he played tour guide to her, pointing out that Tetritis 5 had the largest marketplace in this particular galaxy. He bounced from stall to stall, easily distracted by the coolest looking items and forgetting all about the parts they were actually here for. Clara didn’t mind letting him drag her all over the place mostly because he was happy and excited and she never wanted the bright smile on his face to leave.

 

They had been on the planet for about an hour when two sets of strong arms yanked them both into an empty alley. Before either of them had time to say anything, the men had hit them with something hard and metal to the backs of their heads. Clara was out immediately, but the Doctor tried to get up, groaning. The man hit him twice more for good measure and everything went black.

 

When the Doctor woke up it was in a windowless room, the floor and walls concrete and a light that was dim, but bright enough see alright by. His head throbbed painfully, intense dizziness made it practically impossible to stand up and as if that wasn’t enough the nauseousness discourage him from making any sudden movements. Clara was unconscious a few feet away and he dragged himself over. To his relief her breathing was even and there was only a small lump on her head from the blow. He pressed two fingers to the back of his own head, and winced at the pain as well as the fact that they came back wet with blood.

 

“Clara. Clara.” He shook her until she blinked her eyes open and sat up so suddenly he only narrowly avoided being head butted by her.

 

“What happened? Where are we? Why does my head hurt?”

 

“We were attacked. In the marketplace. Dunno where we are.”

 

She prodded the back of her head and winced before looking at him, properly this time.

 

He was pale, paler than usual which was saying something. His eyes were half open and he looked as though he was having a hard time focusing on her.

 

“Doctor? Hey, you alright?”

 

“M’fine. Wha bout you?”

 

She ignored him in favor of inspecting the back of his head and gasped at what she saw. There was a huge gash where blood still continued to ooze out. His hair was wet and matted with it and his scalp was red and swollen.

 

“You are so not fine.” She scooted around to sit in front of him. Her hands went to the side of his face to get him to look at her. “Doctor. Hey, look at me. I need you to focus and stay with me, ok?” Mere seconds after she spoke his upper body swayed and she caught him as he fell backwards, just in time to keep him from bashing his already damaged head against the concrete.

 

“Shit. Shit shit shit.” With no idea in mind of how to help him in their current situation, she settled for cradling his head in her lap. He woke up again after a few minutes, still groggy and disoriented. Clara’s concern grew by the minute, certain that at the very least he had quite a severe concussion. They had clearly gone a lot harder on him than they had her and she was about ready to start screaming for someone to come and talk to them when the door opened.

 

The people on this planet were relatively humanoid with purple skin and were, on average, about a foot and a half taller than the average human male. There were three of them in the doorway.

 

The Doctor, much to Clara’s surprise, stood up, albeit slow and unsteadily, and put himself between her and the three Tetritisians.

 

“What... do you want?” His legs gave out pretty quickly after that and he crashed to his knees and Clara’s hands gripped the back of his coat to keep him upright. With a steadying hand on his shoulder, she took his place to stand in front of him. He leaned his head on her back and wrapped an arm around her leg, keeping himself steady and her close.

 

“Grab him.” This was the middle of the three men and the two flanking him immediately heeded his words and tried to yank Clara out of the way. She fought them off as best she could with the Doctor hanging onto her. After about thirty seconds of this she put her hands up on a gesture of surrender.

 

“Hold on, ok? Just hold on! Just stop!” The middle one, the apparent leader, held up a hand and his cronies let her go. “Look just, just tell me what you want. Why do you want the Doctor?”

 

“The Doctor will save us.”

 

There was a moment of silence as she processed his words and then she let out a bitter laugh. “Save you? Are you joking? Look at him. He can barely stand and you want him to save you? You bashed his head in and now you want his help? If you wanted his help all you had to do was fucking ask! Jesus, he wouldn’t have even hesitated.”

 

“We want his box. We know what it can do and we didn’t think he’d take to kindly to us using it for ourselves.”

 

Clara took a deep breath and closed her eyes, willing herself not to attack them.

 

“What happened? Why do you need the TARDIS?”

 

“Our king is dead and without him our people will be destroyed. There will be a coup and then a civil war that will bring about destruction to our people. The Doctor must go back and save our king.”

 

“Oh no. No no no. That’s not happening. He’s in no shape to fly the TARDIS right now which means you’re stuck with me and, shockingly enough, I’m not too inclined to do you a favor right now.”

 

She felt the Doctor move behind her and he gripped onto her arm and shoulder so he could lever himself up. He leaned on her heavily, but otherwise was able to stay upright.

 

“Your king dying, it’s a fixed point. It had to happen and if I... if I undo it I would be destroying...many more planets besides yours. It doesn’t, doesn’t seem like it now but his death w-will lead to an unprecedented age of peace. You know who I am and you know I wouldn’t lie about this.”

 

They seemed to consider his words for a few moments, staring at him trying to see for themselves if might be lying.

 

“Well?” Clara asks. “Will you let us go?”

 

Finally, the leader stepped aside and let them pass. He led them out of the abandoned factory they were in and back to the street they had last been on. Many of the people in the marketplace looked at them as they walked by, Clara carrying the brunt of the Doctor’s weight as they slowly made their way back to the TARDIS.

 

She swung the doors open for them and Clara mentally thanked her as she walked inside. She carried the Doctor straight to the med bay and deposited him on one of the cots.

 

“Help me, please.” She directed this toward the ceiling, toward the TARDIS. “I don’t know what to do, but surely there’s something. There has to be something I can do for him. Please.” One of the many drawers in the room was suddenly bathed in golden light and Clara knew that the TARDIS must be just as worried as she was.

 

There was a biostitch kit in the drawer, one that she had, thankfully, used before. She climbed on the cot and coaxed the Doctor to turn over, his head in her lap as she began the laborious process of cleaning the wound as best she could and stitching it up.

 

“What now?” Again, her query was directed toward the ceiling, but this time a voice in her head answered instead.

 

“There is nothing more you can do for him. He needs rest.”

 

“You mean there’s still no magic cure for concussions?”

 

“The brain has, and always will be, a tricky and delicate thing. But he will heal, I promise you.”

 

“Ok, but isn’t there still a whole thing? You know, wake him up every two hours and all that?”

 

“I will monitor him as he sleeps. Right now he just needs your presence.”

 

Satisfied with the TARDIS’s answers, she prodded the Doctor awake.

 

“Let’s go to bed, you.” He groaned and made no move to get up. “Come on, you need proper sleep and you won’t get it on this cardboard box passing for a bed.”

 

After a few more minutes of whining and groaning he stood up and Clara led him to his bedroom. He leaned on her just a bit less, which she took as a good sign.

 

She sat him on the bed and began undressing him, pushing his coat and hoodie off his shoulders, unlacing his boots, pulling his shirt over his head, careful of the stitches, until he was in nothing but his boxers. Once she had changed into comfortable sleepwear and laid on the bed he rolled over to her, on top of her so that she had to open her legs for him to fit between them. He put his arms around her middle and rested his head on her chest.

 

“Sleep well, my Doctor.” A kiss pressed to the top of his head and she settled down to watch him, and run her fingers through his hair until she fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are appreciated. Tumblr is starklyman!


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